Rider nabs first MAAC win over Niagara
By Kadie DiGiuseppe and Jordan Hirsh
A selfless Rider women’s basketball team took down the Niagara Purple Eagles, 79-59, on Jan. 11, registering a season-high 23 assists on 27 made shots for its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory of the season.
“I thought our bounce back was really good,” Head Coach Lynn Milligan said. “They cut it to 10, went on that 5-0 run but we ended up winning by 20, so I thought that our culture and our bounce back to not panic and to just be in control with each other … was really good.”
After missing the game against Canisius on Thursday with a hip injury, senior guard Gabby Turco came off the bench for the first time as a Bronc and put up a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers.
“My shot hasn’t been falling the way I would like it to but getting to the rim and getting to my sweet spot, which is the foul line, was great,” said Turco.
The Broncs found themselves down 6-2 less than two minutes in, but a 9-0 run capped by a 3-pointer from freshman guard Camryn Collins gave the Broncs a five-point advantage.
Later in the first quarter, freshman forward Winner Bartholomew provided some instant bench offense, scoring on a transition layup before drilling her first career three on the ensuing possession, which gave Rider a lead it would not relinquish.
The Bartholomew buckets sparked a 12-0 run that included an electrifying block by freshman guard Emmy Roach that brought the Broncs’ bench to its feet.
Rider finished the first on top 26-17, marking back-to-back games with over 20 points in the opening 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, Rider converted on seven of its first eight shot attempts. The teams went back and forth early in the quarter, but the Broncs pushed their lead to 38-26 after a pair of fast break layups.
Tahata connected with Roach for an easy two, then found herself on the receiving end of a dish from Collins. Rider had 14 assists on their first 14 made baskets.
Niagara hung around via the foul line. The Purple Eagles knocked down 14 of 19 free throw attempts in the first half and pulled within six by the break following an and-one with less than a second to go.
The Purple Eagles struck first after halftime, but Collins’ two made free throws and Turco’s 3-pointer extended the Broncs lead to nine.
The Broncs scored the rest of the quarter mainly at the charity stripe with Turco, sophomore guard Aliya McIver and senior guard Mariona Cos-Morales contributing eight combined points from the line.
Ahead by 15 to start the fourth, Niagara went on a 5-0 run as it tried to stitch together a last-minute effort.
Tahata, Turco, Cos-Morales and McIver all converted layups on the next three Rider possessions before senior guard Sanaa Redmond made her mark on the score sheet, adding her own layup and then getting a steal.
Turco worked the Broncs’ lead up to 22 with less than two minutes left, putting the game completely out of Niagara’s reach.
Cos-Morales’s free throws capped off the Broncs’ offensive field day, bringing the final score to 79-59. The longest Bronc finished in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time in her career.
Tahata said, “We all just came together before the game and said that we needed this win. We just had to stay together and play together.”
The Broncs broke down the disruptive Niagara press defense enough to shoot 56.3% from the field, a new season high.
The Broncs will be back in action in Emmitsburg, Maryland, on Jan. 16 against Mount St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
